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[0:01] Mo Brady: You're listening to Tony Telecasts from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Mo Brady. And I'm Aaron Albano.

[0:21] Mo Brady: Welcome listeners to our mini-series about the Tonys, looking into the drama behind the drama of a theatre season in Broadway history.

[0:28] Mo Brady: In each podcast episode, we watch a telecast of a previous Tony Awards, not only the performances but the opening and the speeches to see how it reflects the season as a whole. So let's dive back in and talk about the 1999 Tony Awards.

[0:42] Aaron Albano: Yay!

[0:51] Mo Brady: Okay, before we get into the nominated performances, I have one question.

[0:56] Aaron Albano: I would love to hear your question.

[0:58] Mo Brady: Where is the It Ain't Nothin But the Blues performance?

[1:01] Aaron Albano: I have no idea. It's so weird that there's a nominated musical and we don't see them. It's a nominated musical that's currently running as well. It opened April 22, 1999. It didn't close until January of 2000.

[1:14] Mo Brady: So it's just hanging out.

[1:16] Aaron Albano: It's hanging out. People are nominated.

[1:19] Mo Brady: I literally was like, maybe it got maybe it closed. But I was like, that's not a thing because Parade was way closed by then. So that can't be an excuse. I was like, Nope. Where is it?

[1:30] Aaron Albano: Got it.

[1:31] Mo Brady: Go.

[1:32] Aaron Albano: Looking back at the New York Times the following day, June 8, 1999, Blues protests a cut in the Tony show. The morning after the Tony Awards ceremonies, it wasn't the winners that theatre professionals were talking about. It was the musical number from It Ain't Nothin But the Blues dropped from the CBS broadcast.

[1:49] Mo Brady: What?

[1:50] Aaron Albano: Because the Sunday night Tony broadcast was running long. The production number from Blues was eliminated at the last minute to meet the network's strict cut-off timeline of 11 PM.

[2:00] Mo Brady: Whoa.

[2:01] Aaron Albano: And this wasn't the first time. I guess Smokey Joe's Cafe experienced a similar incident in 1996.

[2:07] Mo Brady: That's a lot.

[2:09] Aaron Albano: Yeah. I mean, you can read about it on the New York Times website, but it's it. Yuck.

[2:17] Mo Brady: Wow.

[2:18] Aaron Albano: On our spectrum of community celebration to commercial, this feels super...

[2:24] Mo Brady: Really, really, really gross, like...

[2:27] Aaron Albano: Especially because it's a show that's currently running at the time. And there are other shows that get to perform that are not running at this time.

[2:34] Mo Brady: That's not a good look, American Theatre Wing. That is a very bad look, actually.

[2:40] Aaron Albano: But it wasn't a look we realized until after the performances. So let's talk about these performances that we did get to see.

[2:45] Mo Brady: Sure. Yes, let's talk.

[2:47] Aaron Albano: First up, The Civil War singing Freedom's Child, cast of 28 onstage performers singing a Frank Wildhorn bop.

[2:57] Mo Brady: And what a bop it was.

[2:58] Aaron Albano: It is a toe-tapping song. However, it is also a very problematic song.

[3:04] Mo Brady: Yes. I mean, let's just right from the get, when we watch those two flags run across the stage...

[3:11] Aaron Albano: The number opens with a United States flag and a Confederate flag being trotted across the stage.

[3:18] Mo Brady: And in 2021, I was like, nope.

[3:20] Aaron Albano: Nope.

[3:21] Mo Brady: I don't want to see that.

[3:22] Aaron Albano: Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Not even a little bit. I was like, get it out of here. Get it out of here. Get it off the Gershwin.

[3:30] Mo Brady: Oh, it was a lot.

[3:32] Aaron Albano: And then it felt like the song was mostly sung by the company's black performers, although there were solos sung by like army...

[3:41] Mo Brady: Union and Confederate soldiers.

[3:43] Aaron Albano: On both sides.

[3:44] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[3:45] Aaron Albano: But it really felt like the black people were celebrating slavery. I don't know. It just it was like an icky song to me.

[3:54] Mo Brady: It wasn't great.

[3:55] Aaron Albano: It wasn't great. And it was very significant, not even just to this performance, but even with Parade, which is a show that I very much love.

[4:03] Mo Brady: It felt very like the commercialization of a subject matter that these two white men writing it shouldn't really be making light of for public consumption.

[4:17] Aaron Albano: I don't know. And to say they're making light of it is a little too much. But like, it does feel like it's sort of minimizing the gravity of the content by putting it in this like bop, for lack of a better word.

[4:30] Mo Brady: It's a soaring Frank Wildhorn pop rock song.

[4:34] Aaron Albano: Literal toe-tapping. That is just like, this isn't it.

[4:38] Mo Brady: I love people being just so happy that their freedom is coming thanks to the work of these white...

[4:47] Aaron Albano: It's a lot. It was like, I don't... Yeah, let's not do this show anymore. This isn't it.

[4:54] Mo Brady: This isn't it.

[4:55] Aaron Albano: At all.

[4:56] Mo Brady: Speaking of things that I think are also not it.

[4:59] Aaron Albano: What a transition.

[5:00] Mo Brady: Peter Pan. Peter Pan performs I'm Flying. Now, this show played Broadway twice this season.

[5:08] Aaron Albano: The same production with mostly the same cast played the Marquee Theater from November to January, and then played the Gershwin April to August.

[5:18] Mo Brady: Oh, so they didn't even just move theaters. They like left and came back.

[5:21] Aaron Albano: Yeah, or went into storage or did it...

[5:23] Mo Brady: Or something. Yeah.

[5:24] Aaron Albano: So the Gershwin being the home of the Tonys this year, they get the full set and they get the full flying.

[5:30] Mo Brady: Yeah, the home team gets the advantages of the home team.

[5:33] Aaron Albano: They get, yes, which in this case is a lot of flying.

[5:37] Mo Brady: Yes, it was.

[5:38] Aaron Albano: What did you think of this performance of I'm Flying from Peter Pan?

[5:43] Mo Brady: Have you seen Kathy Rigby and Peter Pan?

[5:46] Aaron Albano: I have not. No.

[5:47] Mo Brady: I saw it, I think in San Francisco.

[5:50] Aaron Albano: Yes, Peter Pan is Peter Pan, whatever Peter Pan.

[5:54] Mo Brady: Watching Kathy Rigby as Peter Pan is one of the most thrilling things in the show, especially during this number.

[6:02] Aaron Albano: So watching this number on the Tonys, I was living like a five-year-old boy, especially the moment where the three kids are just flying.

[6:13] Mo Brady: And then Kathy Rigby is like darting from one side to the next.

[6:18] Aaron Albano: Because I remember talking to my friend Sarah Jenkins, who was in the production that I saw.

[6:25] Mo Brady: And she says that Kathy Rigby would just fly and then catch herself on like the side fabric of the side stage and then fling herself the other way.

[6:36] Aaron Albano: It was like a full gymnastics routine, like trapeze routine.

[6:41] Mo Brady: So I loved it. How did you feel about it?

[6:43] Aaron Albano: You know, my primary relationship to Peter Pan is watching the Mary Martin version as a kid.

[6:49] Mo Brady: I feel like I watched it kind of often.

[6:52] Aaron Albano: And so I mean, man, that's problematic, but I watched it.

[6:55] Mo Brady: I feel like a lot.

[6:56] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[6:57] Mo Brady: So coming back to it, like basically like not paying attention to Peter Pan for 30 years.

[7:01] Aaron Albano: I was like, this song's kind of boring.

[7:04] Mo Brady: It's just one note.

[7:05] Aaron Albano: They're just saying I'm flying.

[7:07] Mo Brady: Oh, 100 percent. There's no depth to the song.

[7:10] Aaron Albano: It's all about the flying.

[7:12] Mo Brady: I want to see like the musical theater student who's like trying to create a journey, like a dramaturgical journey out of I'm flying.

[7:19] Aaron Albano: I think that's us literally right now.

[7:22] Mo Brady: I think that's you and me.

[7:23] Aaron Albano: Am I flying? Could I possibly?

[7:26] Mo Brady: Is candy a strong enough happy thought?

[7:28] Aaron Albano: What about Christmas?

[7:31] Mo Brady: But I will say when she leaves for a little while and puts on that like Mary Poppins rig where she flies into the audience.

[7:38] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[7:39] Mo Brady: Forget it. Forget it.

[7:40] Aaron Albano: It's so good.

[7:41] Mo Brady: I love it.

[7:42] Aaron Albano: It is so good.

[7:43] Mo Brady: And it's less about do I enjoy it as does this audience enjoy it.

[7:47] Aaron Albano: And this audience is eating this up with a spoon.

[7:50] Mo Brady: They give this huge standing ovation to the number.

[7:54] Aaron Albano: They are in awe of what's going on.

[7:57] Mo Brady: And so part of me goes like, OK, like me, who's seen flying a lot or thinks Peter Pan is problematic, is not so excited about this. But in 1999, that audience at the Tony Awards, they were like, this is the shit.

[8:19] Aaron Albano: I'm a Parade stan.

[8:20] Mo Brady: Speaking of shows that like came at the right time, like I was just like a young theater queer when Parade came out and I was like, this is important theater and I love this show.

[8:31] Aaron Albano: Uh huh.

[8:32] Mo Brady: So we get to see a performance of This Is Not Over Yet and The Old Red Hills of Home, which I mean, like before we came in, I was just excited to see Parade.

[8:39] Aaron Albano: But I feel like I got exactly what I wanted from this performance.

[8:43] Mo Brady: 100 percent.

[8:44] Aaron Albano: I mean, Parade, Parade's Parade.

[8:46] Mo Brady: Parade's like in that upper echelon of sophisticated theater of like, if you don't like Parade, then something's wrong with you.

[8:53] Aaron Albano: Like it's that level of musical theater that is only reserved for like Sondheim and like Adam Gettl.

[9:02] Mo Brady: Right.

[9:03] Aaron Albano: Brent Carver.

[9:04] Mo Brady: Brent Carver is so good.

[9:05] Aaron Albano: He's acting at you.

[9:08] Mo Brady: He's giving you just like a real human person that is experiencing things and is like weird and having like weird person reactions.

[9:16] Aaron Albano: It's my favorite kind of acting where you're like, I never would have made that choice.

[9:20] Mo Brady: And yet it feels so grounded and realistic when that person does.

[9:23] Aaron Albano: I mean, and Carolee Carmelo.

[9:24] Mo Brady: The same thing you can say for Carolee Carmelo.

[9:26] Aaron Albano: I mean, like they're two titans of this industry just singing this thrilling song.

[9:33] Mo Brady: I mean, just in terms of selling the show.

[9:35] Aaron Albano: I mean, not that you need to sell the show, I guess, because it's closed at this point. But like the title of the song is This Is Not Over Yet.

[9:41] Mo Brady: So you're like, what is it?

[9:43] Aaron Albano: Like if it's not over yet, what's going to happen?

[9:46] Mo Brady: Like it literally is like begging the question, right?

[9:49] Aaron Albano: Like something is going to happen, which, of course, if you know the show, is death.

[9:54] Mo Brady: But, you know, at this point, it's hopeful.

[9:59] Aaron Albano: Here's my two questions about this, because you're right. The show is closed. A, what were they selling?

[10:04] Mo Brady: They were selling a national tour because I saw the national tour the following night.

[10:07] Aaron Albano: Got it.

[10:08] Mo Brady: And what do you think they were advertising?

[10:11] Aaron Albano: Because it was a very significant choice.

[10:14] Mo Brady: Because, yes, they do Old Red Hills of Home, but they really just do This Is Not Over Yet.

[10:18] Aaron Albano: Like the central performance is This Is Not Over Yet.

[10:22] Mo Brady: They're showcasing their nominees, Brett Carver and Carolee Carmelo.

[10:25] Aaron Albano: OK.

[10:26] Mo Brady: Because I would argue that they might also be selling the music of the show.

[10:30] Aaron Albano: Hmm.

[10:31] Mo Brady: Oh, you mean like they're selling Jason Robert Brown?

[10:33] Aaron Albano: Yeah. I mean, they're selling because I don't know how well they sell like the subject matter of the show.

[10:38] Mo Brady: You don't really know what the show is about.

[10:40] Aaron Albano: No.

[10:41] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[10:42] Aaron Albano: But they're selling this like viscerally moving song that really like if these two like subject matterly questionable shows with bops were up against each other.

[10:53] Mo Brady: I think this bop won over Freedom's Child because this song just gets under your skin like a lot of Jason Robert Brown's music does in a good way.

[11:03] Aaron Albano: And I feel like that's what stays with you in this performance.

[11:07] Mo Brady: The music.

[11:08] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[11:09] Mo Brady: And also like Freedom's Child is a very busy staging, right?

[11:12] Aaron Albano: There's flags and there's slow motion sword fighting.

[11:15] Mo Brady: And these people come down from that platform and the other platform.

[11:18] Aaron Albano: Like, basically, you get Brett Carver and Carolee Carmelo standing and singing.

[11:23] Mo Brady: And then 12 ensemble members from Parade, which is much smaller than the show's actual ensemble, but I assume because it's closed, it was like who was available?

[11:31] Aaron Albano: Who wants to come?

[11:32] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[11:33] Aaron Albano: Who wants to check?

[11:34] Mo Brady: Stand on the stage and sing.

[11:36] Aaron Albano: They literally stand on stage and sing.

[11:38] Mo Brady: There's like a beautiful pan across their faces that feels like the ragtime pan.

[11:43] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[11:44] Mo Brady: That is like you get to see all of their acting at you and some of them are acting way too big for camera.

[11:50] Aaron Albano: It's fantastic.

[11:52] Mo Brady: I love it.

[11:53] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[11:54] Mo Brady: You know, Idina Alexander.

[11:55] Aaron Albano: But full park and bark.

[11:56] Mo Brady: The park and bark of it is fantastic.

[11:59] Aaron Albano: Full park and bark.

[12:00] Mo Brady: And so there's nothing to distract from the fact that this music is soaring and beautiful.

[12:05] Aaron Albano: I think you're right, Aaron.

[12:06] Mo Brady: You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

[12:17] Aaron Albano: My New Philosophy, the performance that launched a million college auditions.

[12:23] Mo Brady: K-Chan's rise to power right here.

[12:26] Aaron Albano: She is so good at My New Philosophy.

[12:29] Mo Brady: I mean, speaking of selling the nominee, like she gets to do the whole dang thing.

[12:34] Aaron Albano: And she's fantastic.

[12:36] Mo Brady: Gosh, she was so good.

[12:37] Aaron Albano: She knocked it out of the park.

[12:38] Mo Brady: She was so good.

[12:39] Aaron Albano: Forget it.

[12:40] Mo Brady: This is your star turn right here.

[12:42] Aaron Albano: I mean, I feel like there's no one who's listened to this podcast who hasn't seen Kristin Chenoweth do My New Philosophy.

[12:46] Mo Brady: Whether you watch the Tonys or you've seen it at Gay Bar.

[12:49] Aaron Albano: We have two audiences.

[12:52] Mo Brady: You either saw this on your computer, live, or at Musical Mondays.

[12:56] Aaron Albano: Forget it.

[12:58] Mo Brady: What I had never seen is the tag of happiness at the end.

[13:02] Aaron Albano: I saw this production.

[13:06] Mo Brady: And watching them do happiness, I was like, that is a great ensemble.

[13:11] Mo Brady: It's so good. It's so like, it's thrilling.

[13:15] Aaron Albano: Andy Blankenbuehler has some solos and great camera moments in this.

[13:20] Mo Brady: Oh, yeah.

[13:20] Aaron Albano: And he has got some fucking swagger.

[13:23] Mo Brady: Oh, yeah, it's nuts. I was like, oh, he's brilliant. I could go on for many, many, like, we could do like a frame for frame and I would gag about it.

[13:32] Mo Brady: Please subscribe to Aaron Albano's new podcast, A Frame for Frame Breakdown of Sing, Sing, Sing.

[13:39] Aaron Albano: From the 1999 Tony Awards. One frame a week, we'll be here for three years.

[13:43] Mo Brady: And then for us who just watched Fosse Verdon to see Gwen Verdon applauding from the house after the performance, being acknowledged on stage when the show wins Best Musical, like, it's like very lovely, I think.

[13:56] Mo Brady: Little Me, boom, boom.

[14:10] Aaron Albano: This is Martin Short and four women.

[14:13] Mo Brady: Included in those women is Roxanne Barlow and Cynthia Onrubia.

[14:17] Aaron Albano: Broadway legend, Cynthia Onrubia.

[14:20] Mo Brady: What a queen.

[14:21] Aaron Albano: What a weird song.

[14:23] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[14:24] Aaron Albano: The song is weird. So it's like an overly French Frenchman and four French dancing girls dancing about boom, boom, which is a euphemism for sex.

[14:34] Mo Brady: Oh, really? I didn't catch that in this number.

[14:36] Aaron Albano: From all the bass drums and hip thrusting.

[14:40] Mo Brady: Like aggressive hip thrusts toward the audience.

[14:42] Aaron Albano: Yeah. I was like, is this funny?

[14:45] Mo Brady: It's not funny to me now, but was it funny then?

[14:49] Aaron Albano: It just didn't feel clever to me.

[14:51] Mo Brady: No, it didn't. But it felt like a Martin Short show.

[14:54] Aaron Albano: It felt like exactly the humor that Martin Short is sort of known for. Not really anything subtle about it. It's all pretty in your face, which is kind of on brand for Martin Short.

[15:10] Mo Brady: I'm not a wild fan of Martin Short.

[15:13] Aaron Albano: No, this performance does do one thing that Tony audiences love, which is there are mic problems. His mic is cracking throughout the performance. A stagehand comes on stage with a handheld microphone.

[15:26] Mo Brady: And to save the show, he covers brilliantly.

[15:28] Aaron Albano: Yes, exactly. And so Martin Short does a wonderful job of incorporating, acknowledging and then moving on from the fact that he has a handheld mic, which I always love to see.

[15:40] Mo Brady: But it's...

[15:40] Aaron Albano: Sure.

[15:41] Mo Brady: But just because you do that doesn't mean you should get a Tony Award.

[15:43] Aaron Albano: All right. I want to know about Andy Get Your Gun for you because Andy Get Your Gun is like the show that my mom did in high school. And so I grew up knowing all of that music, but I didn't know why. It was just like songs my mom sung in the house. And then I saw the show and I was like, I know all these songs because my mom sung them to me when I was a young person. So I just like have such affinity for this show.

[16:05] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[16:06] Aaron Albano: And I think it came off very well. And we'll get into that. But what did you think about it? I want to know if it's just my bias.

[16:12] Mo Brady: I was pretty bored. I thought they were fine. I was more excited about the I Got the Sun in the Morning section. And then when all the ensemble left and we were left with Tom Wopat and Bernadette Peters like saying a love song to each other, I think. I was like, okay, cool. Is that a nice way to say that I didn't like it that much?

[16:32] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[16:32] Mo Brady: I just like this Jeff Calhoun staging, you know, director of Newsies series, the choreographer of Andy Get Your Gun. It's just like a big, fun Broadway hoedown.

[16:42] Aaron Albano: Sure.

[16:42] Mo Brady: It's not difficult choreography, but it 100% does the job in my humble opinion. It's just like good stage pictures. And I think that the chemistry between Tom Wopat and Bernadette Peters is perfect.

[16:56] Aaron Albano: I think I was sold on chemistry. I was sold on chemistry in the 1999 Tony Awards.

[16:59] Mo Brady: I think I would agree with that.

[17:09] Aaron Albano: All right, let's get to our Yelp review. So Mo, which performance made the show look better than it was?

[17:16] Mo Brady: I guess Andy Get Your Gun, because that show looked good to me. I liked the hoedown. I liked Tom Wopat and Bernadette Peters. I mean, I agree that it's not a perfect show. And yet I thought it was a good Tony Award performance. What about you?

[17:30] Aaron Albano: Peter Pan. Again, Peter Pan's Peter Pan. But when you got Kathy Rigby like soaring into the audience after doing her like Olympic pyrotechnics across the stage, I was thrilled.

[17:43] Mo Brady: At that moment, I'm Flying was making me sore.

[17:48] Aaron Albano: Are you a reviewer? Are you an author? Because, man, that is 100%. That's the headline.

[17:54] Mo Brady: Exactly. What performance made you want to buy a ticket?

[17:59] Aaron Albano: Fosse. Like, do I even need to re-spell out why? People can tune into your new Frame by Frame podcast if they want to know why. What about you?

[18:11] Mo Brady: Well, this was easy for me because I saw these shows. And so I know that You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown actually made me want to buy a ticket. So yes, these performances, the cohesion of the onstage energy, the star turn by Kristin Chenoweth. Yes, it made me want to buy a ticket. And I did.

[18:28] Aaron Albano: Which speech moved you the most?

[18:29] Mo Brady: It was Dame Judi Dench, for Amy's view. It was such a classy speech. A, I was already shocked that it was her first Tony. She walks up and she's beaming. And she says, I've said it before and I shall say it again. The winning bit is not the best. The nominating bit is the best. And then calls out all of her other nominees by first name because they're chums. And then says, it doesn't seem fair, but I'm thrilled to have it. In the weirdest, most gracious, beautiful way of saying, like, I don't deserve it, but I'm taking it home anyway. Like, it's charming. And then she goes, there is no such thing as being able to give a performance on your own unless you're doing a one-woman show. Therefore, my thanks has to go to the cast, the stage management, and everyone backstage who you don't see at the Barrymore. And I'm like, way to throw your accolades to everyone else around you. I love her. Just classy as fuck.

[19:29] Aaron Albano: Yeah, way to divert attention. And yet, in that, bring attention back to yourself.

[19:34] Mo Brady: I think I just grabbed onto Elizabeth Frans for Death of a Salesman because I just get excited when people talk about ensembles. So she said, in fact, someday we will give ensemble awards. So I will accept this for the greatest ensemble an actor could ever dream of working with. Again, that sort of, like, deflection I thought was really beautiful.

[19:54] Aaron Albano: What was your biggest surprise win?

[19:56] Mo Brady: This was hard for me. I went with Martin Short over Brent Carver in part because I just enjoyed Brent Carver's performance in Parade so much more in this than Martin Short's, which just felt kind of, like, juvenile.

[20:08] Aaron Albano: Yep.

[20:09] Mo Brady: But I didn't see the show. Like, should Martin Short have a Tony Award? Maybe. Sure. Yes. Like, he is a great performer. And so if this was, like, the time to give it to him, I'm not going to be mad at that. Like, Brent Carver has this Tony Award for Kiss of the Spider Woman. So maybe it was just like, let's give another. I'm, in theory, I'm always up for more people having Tony Awards and fewer people having more Tony Awards.

[20:30] Aaron Albano: Sure.

[20:31] Mo Brady: It's just kind of where I am. Spread the wealth.

[20:34] Aaron Albano: Yes. Um, what was your biggest surprise win?

[20:37] Mo Brady: Dame Judi Dench. Again, because it was her first win. Floored that it's her first win. But also, it's her first win. And that category was heavy. That category was very stiff. It was Stockard Channing, Marianne Seldes, and Zoey Wanamaker. Like...

[20:54] Aaron Albano: Now I'm just angry that we didn't see a plays medley with...

[20:57] Mo Brady: With the women?

[20:58] Aaron Albano: With the women. I'm furious. It's dumb. I'm like, you got these women? Come on, let them act.

[21:06] Mo Brady: Would you recommend watching the 1999 Tony Awards?

[21:09] Aaron Albano: I always hate saying no, but this is a nope for me.

[21:12] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[21:12] Aaron Albano: The musical performances are lackluster. Almost across the board, I think Fosse and My New Philosophy are great. But there's no opening number. The best play montage is icky. I was glad it was fast. I'm glad it was an efficient Tony Awards. If you're looking for an efficient Tony Awards, then the 1999 Tony Awards are for you.

[21:30] Mo Brady: What about you, Aaron? Would you recommend watching?

[21:33] Aaron Albano: No, same. I mean, like, again, despite it being shorter, I was definitely playing with my phone about two-thirds of the way through the telecast. And that's not that long. Like, that's like an hour in. Come on, man. I would say YouTube the parade performance. YouTube the You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown performance. Definitely YouTube the Fosse performance. And then Google and watch everything available featuring Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews. Just, yeah. You can watch them at Carnegie Hall. You can watch their TV specials. There's a lot. They were amazing. Had they hosted, I'd probably have said yes. They did not host. They said, here's best musical and here's something else.

[25:11] Mo Brady: Thanks for joining us for the second half of our Tony Telecast host choice. We had Aaron's choice. He made a bad one, guys, but it's okay because it's on to me next. And for our next recap, Aaron, I want to take us back to 1984, which is Baby, La Cage aux Folles, The Tap Dance Kid, and Sunday in the Park with George.

[25:35] Aaron Albano: It's a good stack for best musicals.

[25:37] Mo Brady: The Ensemblist was produced today by me, Aaron Albano.

[25:41] Aaron Albano: And by me, Mo Brady.

[25:43] Mo Brady: Special thanks to Wasif Sami for the background research on this week's Tony season and all Tony seasons. Please rate and review The Ensemblist wherever you listen to your podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network. Our Patreon members have on-demand access to our archive, including full conversations with our guests and early access to episodes. You can support us for between $5 and $20 a month at patreon.com slash The Ensemblist. Thanks for listening. Until next time.

[26:12] Mo Brady: Bye.